Buckeyes Beat Hoosiers, 7-4, Thursday Night

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Left-handed pitcher Connor Curlis threw a career-high seven innings and the Buckeye bats registered 13 hits as the Ohio State baseball team defeated Indiana, 7-4, Thursday evening at Nick Swisher Field at Bill Davis Stadium. With the win, the Buckeyes improve to 22-32 overall and 8-14 in Big Ten play, while the Hoosiers drop to 30-20-2 overall and 12-9-1 in conference action.

“There were a lot of really good things tonight and Connor did a great job on the mound for us,” head coach Greg Beals said. “Ryan Feltner was really good too, he gave up some tough-luck hits. Overall, our pitching was strong. There were young guys hitting tonight and older guys getting some key hits too. Pohl had another three-hit game and Dom Canzone had two huge execution swings for us. He is matured beyond his freshman year. Really happy for the guys to get this series opener win.”

BUCKEYES SCORE FIRSTOhio State took an early 1-0 lead on right-handed starting pitcher Jonathan Stiever in the first. After a lead-off single by Tre’ Gantt, the OSU lead-off hitter reached third following a stolen base and a throwing error by Stiever. Dominic Canzone connected on the first pitch he saw vs. Stiever to push Gantt home on a RBI ground out.

CC CRUISES THROUGH FOURLeft-handed starting pitcher Connor Curlis was perfect through 4.1 innings, sending down 13 straight IU hitters. He kept the Hoosiers off-balanced and struck out four hitters to chalk up four zeros on the board.

BIG HIT FOR INDIANA IN THE FIFTHWith one out, Craig Dedelow knocked a solo home run over the wall in right center to notch the first hit of the evening for Indiana and tie the game at 1-all. The Hoosiers then had runners on first and second, but Curlis did a nice job of getting out of the jam with a fly out to Canzone in right to keep it tied.

DOM GIVES THE BOYS THE LEAD IN THE SIXTHJalen Washington knocked the first pitch off Stiever into the gap in right center for his team-high fifth triple of the year. Dom then pushed him home on another RBI ground out to put the Buckeyes back on top, 2-1.

BUCKEYES BAT AROUNDThe bats were just getting started. Ohio State tallied seven hits for five runs in the sixth to take a 6-1 lead. Shea Murray pulled a 1-2 pitch down the line off Stiever to make it 4-2 and end his day on the mound. RBI singles by Jacob Barnwell and pinch-hitter Andrew Fishel pushed it to a five-run advantage. Pohl, Cherry and Zach Ratcliff also singled in the frame.

INDIANA SOLO HOME RUNSDedelow hit his second home run of the night in the top of the seventh to cut the lead to 6-2. It was the Hoosier sluggers’ 15th of the year and second multi-home run game of the season. Logan Sowers knocked a two-out solo home run in the ninth.

POHL STAYS HOT Freshman Conner Pohl continued to swing a hot bat tonight, going 3-for-4 to collect his third-straight, three-hit game. He’s batting .600 (9-for-15) with two doubles, home run and three RBI in his last five games.

INSURANCE IS A GOOD THINGOhio State added an important run in the bottom of the eighth vs. the IU bullpen. After a walk to Gantt, a throwing error allowed the OSU left fielder to speed around to third base. A clutch two-out RBI single by Washington made it 7-2.

HOOSIERS DON’T GO QUIETLYFollowing the solo homer by Sowers, an infield single and two-base throwing error trimmed the OSU lead to three runs in the top of the ninth.

ON THE MOUNDCurlis tossed a career-high seven innings and limited the IU bats to two runs on four hits with four strikeouts and one walk to improve to 5-3 in 2017. Right-handed reliever Ryan Feltner struck out three and allowed one run on two hits in 1.2 innings of work. Right-handed pitcher Seth Kinker recorded the save for the Buckeyes, striking out the final batter of the game on three pitches to earn his seventh save of the season.

UP NEXTOhio State and Indiana meet in game two of the series at 6:35 p.m. ET Friday. The game will be streamed on BTN Plus ($) and fans can listen on AM 1460 ESPN. Right-handed pitcher Jake Post (1-6, 4.32 ERA) squares off vs.right-handed pitcher Pauly Milto (5-3, 3.54 ERA).